Reference may be made to the article “Insight over view, Alternative energy technologies” published in Nature 414, (2001), 332-337 by M. S. Dresselhaus  I. L. Thomas, which describes “Fossil fuels currently supply most of the world's energy needs, and however unacceptable their long-term consequences, the supplies are likely to remain adequate for the next few generations. Scientists and policy makers must make use of this period of grace to assess alternative sources of energy and determine what is scientifically possible, environmentally acceptable and technologically promising.”
Reference may be made to the article “Evaluation of photo contribution to a chemical reaction using concentrated solar energy” published in Solar Energy 44 (1990) 37-42, by W. E. Wentworth et. al, which describes highly concentrated simulated solar energy can be used directly as the energy source to carry out the reaction of 2-propanol to propene and acetone. A focused beam from a 1000 watt xenon lamp is used to simulate concentrated solar energy. The reaction is run with uv-visible cutoff filters which successively remove portions of the uv-visible radiation from the xenon lamp. However the results which demonstrate the simulated solar energy using 1000 w xenon lamp, is not exactly solar radiation and describes only light effect.
Reference may be made to a paper by Stefano Protti et al. entitled “The sunny side of chemistry: green synthesis by solar light”, published in Photochemical  Photobiological Sciences, 2009, 8, 1499-1516, the authors report that in many cases the solar radiation could be successfully used in place of toxic or expensive chemical reagents to overcome the activation energy in organic synthesis. However the focus is on light driven reactions and not a combination of light and heat-driven reactions.
Reference may be made to a paper by V. Murugesan et al. entitled “Solar photocatalytic degradation of azo dye comparison of photocatalytic efficiency of ZnO and TiO2”, published in Solar Energy Materials  Solar Cells 77 (2003) 65-82 the authors have investigated the photocatalytic activity of commercial TiO2. However the focus is on photo assisted reaction and comparisons with other photo assisted reactions and not a combination of light and heat-driven reactions.
Reference may be made to a paper by Jaime A. Valderrama et al. entitled “The solar-chemical photo-Friedel-Crafts heteroacylation of 1,4-quinones”, published in Tetrahedron Letters 52 (2011) 609-6011, the authors report the investigation of photochemical reactions between 1,4-benzo- and 1,4-naphthoquinone and several heteroaromatic carbaldehydes under solar irradiation conditions. However this reaction also focuses on light only not a combination of light and heat-driven reactions.
Reference may be made to the article “Visible light induced ‘on water’ benzylic bromination with N-bromosuccinimide” published in Tetrahedron Letters 47 (2006) 1097-1099, by Ajda Podgorsek et. al, which describes benzylic bromination of various 4-substituted toluenes (Me, tert-Bu, COOEt and COMe) conducted with NBS in pure water and with a 40 W incandescent light-bulb as an initiator of the radical chain process. However the time taken for most of the reactions is excessively long.
Reference may be made to a paper entitled “Clean synthesis of crystalline p-nitrobenzyl bromide from p-nitrotoluene with zero organic discharge” heat (to raise the reaction temperature to 70-80° C.) and light was utilised in tandem in a fast and selective benzylic bromination reaction (Dinda et. al., RSC Adv., 2 (2012) 6645-6647. However this work utilises conventional energy sources and does not report standalone bromination with solar energy in aqueous medium.
It occurred to us while conducting the above studies that if a solar device can be made available which can provide heat to achieve a controlled temperature in the range of 50-100° C., light in adequate amount, and with provision for agitation with a magnetic stirrer typically preferred by synthetic chemists, then the device can be utilized to carry out such reactions in a “greener” manner which is important for students and researchers to learn in the context of sustainable development besides its wider relevance.